The cimetière parisien de Thiais is one of three Parisian cemeteries '' extra muros'', and is located in the commune of

Thiais Thiais () is a Communes of France, commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. The name Thiais comes from Medieval Latin ''Theodasium'' or ''Theodaxium'', meaning "estate of Theodasiu ...

, in the

Val-de-Marne Val-de-Marne (, "Vale of the Marne") is a department of France located in the Île-de-France region. Named after the river Marne, it is situated in the Grand Paris metropolis to the southeast of the City of Paris. In 2019, Val-de-Marne had a ...

department, in the

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

History

The cemetery was opened in October 1929 and is therefore the newest of the three Parisian cemeteries ''extra muros'', the others being the cimetière parisien de Bagneux and the cimetière parisien de Pantin. It is now a true cosmopolitan cemetery, where many faiths are represented.

Size

Thiais is the second largest Parisian cemetery. Only

Pantin Pantin () is a Communes of France, commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. In 2019 its population was estimated to be 59,846. Pantin is located on the edge of ...

is larger. There are about 6,000 trees. The cemetery is divided into 123 numbered divisions in which there are an estimated 150,000 graves. Because the cemetery is so large, people with a walking disability can be driven around.

Notable burials

* In divisions 48 through 55 there are ''Jardins de la Fraternité'' which are meant for burial of those in Paris who could not afford burial or who could not be identified. Because of this it has the reputation of being the "Cemetery of the poor and penniless".Thiais on the Landru Cemeteries website
/ref> * Ashes of the dead who donated their body to science are scattered in Division 102, where several

stelae A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

stand in their memory. * Division 94 is reserved for

stillbirth Stillbirth is typically defined as fetus, fetal death at or after 20 or 28 weeks of pregnancy, depending on the source. It results in a baby born without vital signs, signs of life. A stillbirth can often result in the feeling of guilt (emotio ...

s. * There are military sections in divisions 1 and 17. There are also a number of memorials: * Monument for the

French resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

(1942) (division 7) * The Ermenonville crash in 1974 (division 16) * The Paris-Brazzaville crash in 1961 (division 22) * Monument for the Policier auxiliaires, persons who have chosen to do their

national service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

in the French national police force (division 25) * Monument for

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China), officially known as the Indochinese Union and after 1941 as the Indochinese Federation, was a group of French dependent territories in Southeast Asia from 1887 to 1954. It was initial ...

solidarity (division 36) * Monuments for ''Génie de la Terre'' ( Chinese protective deities) (division 36 and 44) Individual burials. Many of the graves have been cleared after the concession expired. * Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry, French Air Force lieutenant-colonel, sentenced to death by court martial, he was the last French person to be executed by firing squad, later reburied in the cemetery of

Bourg-la-Reine Bourg-la-Reine () is a Communes of France, commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. History In 1792, during the French Revolution, Bourg-la-Reine (meaning "Town of the Queen") w ...

* André Berley, French actor * Francisco Boix-Campo, Spanish republican and survivor of Mauthausen *

Marcel Bucard Marcel Bucard (7 December 1895 – 13 March 1946) was a French Fascist politician. Early career A decorated soldier who earned a reputation for bravery in World War I, Bucard became active in politics after 1918, initially as a member of '' ...

, French fascist politician *

Jean Cassou Jean Cassou (; 9 July 1897 – 15 January 1986) was a French writer, art critic, poet, member of the French Resistance during World War II and the first Director of the Musée national d'Art moderne in Paris. Biography Jean Cassou was born at ...

, French writer, art critic, poet and member of the French Resistance during World War II *

Georges Catroux Georges Albert Julien Catroux (; 29 January 1877 – 21 December 1969) was a French Army general and diplomat who served in both World War I and World War II, and served as Grand Chancellor of the Légion d'honneur from 1954 to 1969. Life C ...

, French army general *

Paul Celan Paul Celan (; ; born Paul Antschel; 23 November 1920 – c. 20 April 1970) was a German-speaking Romanian poet, Holocaust survivor, and literary translation, literary translator. He adopted his pen name (an anagram of the Romanian spelling Ancel ...

, Romanian poet and translator, with his wife

Gisèle Lestrange Gisèle Lestrange or Gisèle de Lestrange, and after marriage, Gisèle Celan-Lestrange (19 March 1927 – 9 December 1991), was a French graphic artist. Biography Born in Paris, Lestrange studied drawing and painting at the Académie Julian in Pa ...

Jean-Paul Le Chanois Jean-Paul Étienne Dreyfus, better known as Jean-Paul Le Chanois (; 25 October 1909 – 8 July 1985), was a French film director, screenwriter and actor. His film ''...Sans laisser d'adresse'' won the Golden Bear, Golden Bear (Comedies) awar ...

, French film director, screenwriter and actor *

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, French-born actor and director * Lise Delamare, French actress * Jean-Luc Delarue, French television presenter and producer *

Beauford Delaney Beauford Delaney (December 30, 1901 – March 26, 1979) was an American modernist painter. He is remembered for his work with the Harlem Renaissance in the 1930s and 1940s, as well as his later works in abstract expressionism following his move ...

, American modernist painter * Eugénie Fougère, French vaudeville and music hall dancer and singer *

Kurt Gerstein Kurt Gerstein (11 August 1905 – 25 July 1945) was a German SS officer and head of technical disinfection services of the ''Hygiene-Institut der Waffen-SS'' (Institute for Hygiene of the Waffen-SS). In 1942, after witnessing mass murders in the ...

, German SS-officer * Étienne Hajdú, Transylvania-born French sculptor of Jewish descent and resistance fighter * Jean Hérold-Paquis, French journalist who fought for Franco and the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War * Catherine Hessling, French actress * Loumia Hiridjee, French businesswoman (''Princesse Tam Tam'') * Lazare Kopelmanas, international jurist and diplomat *

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, French Prime Minister under the Third Republic and

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was initially buried there after his execution before being removed to the Chambrun family vault in

Montparnasse Cemetery Montparnasse Cemetery () is a cemetery in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, in the city's 14th arrondissement of Paris, 14th arrondissement. The cemetery is roughly 47 acres and is the second largest cemetery in Paris. The cemetery has over 35,00 ...

. * Gina Manès, Silent movie star * Daniel Mayer, French politician (donated his body to science) * Pascal Mazzotti, French actor, remains transferred to

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; also spelled ; ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. It is a luxu ...

* Farhad Mehrad, Award winning Iranian rock singer, songwriter, guitarist, pianist. In Iran known as Farhad. Burial place of ashes. * Gérald Neveu, French poet *

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, Mexican Writer transferred to ''Jardins de la Fraternité''. *

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, better known as '' Kiki'' or ''The Queen of Montparnasse'', grave was cleared in 1974 * Albert Raisner, French harmonica player, TV and radio host and producer * Joseph Roth, Austrian-Jewish journalist and novelist *

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, French individualist anarchist philosopher and activist and a novelist * Lev Sedov, son of Léon Trotsky and his second wife

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, activist in the Trotskyist movement * Madeleine Sologne, French actress * Franz Stock, first German theology student in France since the Middle Ages, his remains were transferred to the church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Rechèvres in

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in June 1963 *

Yevgeny Zamyatin Yevgeny Ivanovich Zamyatin ( rus, Евге́ний Ива́нович Замя́тин, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɪˈvanəvʲɪdʑ zɐˈmʲætʲɪn; – 10 March 1937), sometimes anglicized as Eugene Zamyatin, was a Russian author of science fictio ...

, Russian author of science fiction and political satire * Zog of Albania, former president, prime minister and king of Albania (his remains have since been repatriated to Albania). * Mahmoud Shehabi Khorassani (1903 Iran – 1986 France) philosopher, jurist, supreme judge, author and distinguished professor at the

University of Tehran The University of Tehran (UT) or Tehran University (, ) is a public collegiate university in Iran, and the oldest and most prominent Iranian university located in Tehran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as ...

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buried in the 101st division, row 16.

Location

Located in the

banlieue In France, a banlieue (; ) is a suburb of a large city, or all its suburbs taken collectively. Banlieues are divided into autonomous administrative entities and do not constitute part of the city proper. For instance, 80percent of the inhabitant ...

southwest of the city of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, the main entrance to the Cimetière de Thiais is located at 261 Route de Fontainebleau, in

, near the junction with Avenue de la Republique. There is also a smaller entrance: Porte Est on Avenue de Général de Gaulle. The inhabitants of Thiais are buried in the communal cemetery just off Avenue Général de Gaulle, near Espace des 4 Saisons.

Public transport

The cimetière de Thiais is a short walk from the Villejuif – Louis Aragon métro station, which can be reached by taking line 7. The nearest railway station is Pont de Rungis – Aéroport d'Orly which is served by line C, although it is not close by. The cimetière de Thiais is also served by bus lines 185, 192, 285 and 396. There is a

Vélib' is a large-scale public bicycle sharing system in Paris, France. The system encompasses more than 16,000 bikes and 1,400 stations. The name ''Vélib is a portmanteau of the French words ''vélo'' (''"bicycle"'') and ''liberté'' ("freedom"). ...

station at Avenue de Fontainebleau (42703).

Gallery

Avenue-O-Cemetery-Thiais.jpg, Avenue O Grave-Zog.jpg, The former grave of Zog of Albania Principale-du-Nord-Cemetery-Thiais.jpg, Avenue Principale Serbian military cemetery at Thiais - inconnu.jpg, The Serbian military section of the cemetery

References

External links

Cimetière Parisien de Thiais on the Mairie de Paris website (including plan)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cimetiere de Thiais 1929 establishments in France Cemeteries in Paris Buildings and structures in Val-de-Marne Tourist attractions in Val-de-Marne Cemeteries established in the 1920s